Rumour: Prey 2 Delayed By Human Head Strike?

Report Claims No Work Since November 2011

Prey 2's recent blackout, rumours and yesterday's eventual confirmation (with delays) was a trifle odd to say the least. Why did Bethesda take so long to assure fans that Prey 2 was still in development? Why haven't we seen any new screenshots, trailers or updates since the summer? Why wasn't it up to "quality standards?" What the hell was going on?

According to a new report, the answer may lie with a contract dispute that caused Human Head to put down their mice since November 2011... and effectively go on strike for several months.

Shack News has ostensibly heard from an anonymous source who claims that Human Head were unhappy with its contract provided by Bethesda and Zenimax. Thus, they stopped working on Prey 2 as of November in order to negotiate from a stronger position. During this process, however, many developers were laid off, and rumour has it that negotiations ceased as of January this year.

This, of course, would explain why Prey 2 was failing to meet "quality standards" and why "development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year." After all, there's been no development over the last five months!

Yesterday's announcement suggests one of two things. Either Zenimax has moved to rehire Human Head personnel and thrash out a new contract, or they've moved to secure a new developer. We'll have to wait and see, since Bethesda are keeping shtum for now.